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Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission

The Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission (NWARPC) was formed in 1966 through a cooperative agreement between Benton County, Washington County, and the cities of Benton­ville, Fayetteville, Rogers, Siloam Springs, and Springdale. Today, the Commission includes 44 units of govern­ment in Benton, Madison, and Washington Counties, Arkansas and McDonald County, Missouri, as well as other public agency partners including the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT), the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), transit agencies, Beaver Water District, University of Arkansas, and Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA).

In addition to acting as a forum for regional dialogue and cooperation, the Commission provides a wide range of services to member governments including multi-jurisdictional planning, community planning, information services, and special projects. NWARPC is the clearinghouse for socio, economic, environmental, housing, and Census information for Northwest Arkansas and is a principle contact with state and federal officials and agencies regarding state and federal grants, programs, and regulations affecting local governments.

In 1983, NWARPC was designated as the Metropolitan Planning Organi­zation (MPO) under U.S. DOT regulations for transportation planning purposes. The MPO is designated by the Governors of Arkansas and Missouri to conduct the federally mandated 3C planning process – Comprehensive, Continuing and Cooperative – necessary for transportation projects to qualify for federal transportation funds. As the MPO, the NWARPC provides the framework for joint cooperation and decision-making in the planning and prioritization of transporta­tion system improvements.

After surpassing 200,000 in population in 2010, the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO urbanized area was designated as a Transportation Management Area (TMA). TMAs are subject to additional federal requirements and receive suballocations of Surface Transportation Block Grant Program – Attributable (STBGP-A), Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) and Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) funding. Since becoming a TMA, NWARPC has awarded and obligated over $100 million in suballocated federal funding. Additionally, NWARPC has been awarded $40 million in competitive U.S. DOT discretionary grant funding for the region since 2010, including TIGER and BUILD grants for the Razorback Greenway and the Missouri-Arkansas Connector/Bella Vista Bypass.

NWARPC holds regular meetings with the following committees and groups; for more information visit our events page. 

    1. Regional Planning Commission (RPC)/Policy Committee
    2. Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
    3. Active Transportation Committee (ACT)
    4. Northwest Arkansas GIS Users Group
    5. Northwest Arkansas MS4 Stormwater Compliance Group

The RPC/ Policy Committee is the chief decision-making body for the MPO and consists of the jurisdic­tions’ chief elected official and/or other appointed representatives. The TAC develops the technical aspects of plans and reports and makes recommendations to the RPC/Policy Committee.

The NWARPC has created many plans and work products including:

More information about NWARPC can also be found in this brochure:

NWARPC Brochure

For description of transportation programs as well as a list of terms, abbreviations and acronyms used in published documentation and projects see this Glossary and Terms document.

About NWARPC